148 6 Court and the Legal System—Juvenile Forensicsobtain it. It is important to study age-appropriate legal decision making so that juv-
eniles have the freedom to make legal decisions on their own while allowing them
the opportunity to understand the law and their rights. It would also be beneficial
to do research on the relationships that exist between children's responsibilities and
children's rights. Research in this area is difficult because it is hard to determine at
what age all juveniles can be allowed to make their own life decisions, when each
juvenile is unique. Studying age-appropriate decision making raises other issues: Are
we better decision makers as our age increases, and is age the most important factor
in determining responsibility? When examining the age of criminal responsibility
it is essential to include as many variables as possible such as environment, ethnicity,
socioeconomic status, and even IQ. By studying the age of criminal responsibility,
forensic psychologists can examine the effectiveness of the current juvenile justice
system and make suggestions as to which changes could be made to improve the
treatment of juvenile offenders.
CHILDREN/JUVENILES AND THE RELIABILITY
OF THEIR COURTROOM TESTIMONYIntroductionMore and more often, children are becoming involved in the legal system to provide
courtroom testimony, especially in sexual abuse cases (Ceci & Bruck, 1993). It has
been estimated that more than 200,000 children per year are in some way involved in
the legal system (Ceci & Bruck, 1995). Frequently, children provide key testimony
because their word is the only evidence available in many abuse cases. The court
must then determine whether the child is a reliable witness (J. E. B. Myers, 1993a).
As is discussed in this section, the court must examine various factors, such as the
child's age, whether the child can tell the difference between the truth and a lie,
and whether the child understands the consequences of the testimony he or she
will provide.
Martha is a 12-year-old girl who has recently accused her old babysitter, a neigh-
borhood friend named Mitch, of sexually abusing her when she was 8 years old. She
never told anyone about this while it was occurring because she said he had threatened to
kill her favorite pet dog. However, recently she was behaving in an inappropriate sexual
manner, so her parents questioned her about her behaviors until she finally admitted
what had occurred several years ago. Her parents pressed charges against Mitch, and they
are expecting the case to go to trial because Mitch denied his guilt. Martha is the only
witness for the prosecution, and she has been questioned many times about the alleged
abuse. Some of the details of her story have changed, and she has expressed great fear
about having to be in the courtroom with Mitch. Because of the inaccuracies in her
story, the prosecutor wants the judge to determine if she is a competent witness. He
has also requested the use of closed-circuit television so that Martha will not be in the
room with Mitch when she testifies. The judge must determine whether Martha is a